POCHAEV

POCHAEV:     US Commission No. UA19060501
Alternate name: Pochayv (Yiddish), Pitcheyev (German), Pitshayev (Hungarian), Pochayev (Slov), Poczajov (Polish) and Potchayev (Ukraine). Pochaev is located in Ternopolskaya 50°1 25°29, 82 km from Rovno, 25 km from Kremenets and 70 km from Ternopol. The mass grave is located at E part of the town. Present town population is 5,001-25,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.

• Town: Town Soviet, 283290, Ternopolsky Region, Kremenetsky District, Pochaev, Vossoyedineniya [tel. (071) 23968].
  
• Local: Kombinat Komunalnih Predpriyatiy of Promishlennaya str. 2 [tel. (071) 61354].
  
• Regional: Regional Soviet of Ternopol, Grushevskogo str. 8 [tel. (03522) 22105] Society of Monument Preservation [tel. (03522) 23636].
  
• Jewish Community in Ternopol, Gotlib Kalman at 282022 Ternopol, Nezavisimosty Sq. 1 [tel. (03522) 44216].
  
• Others: Bibliography of Community Memorial Book: 'Kremenets-Vyshgorodsk-Pochayev of Buenos-Aires 1965.
  

     The earliest known Jewish community was 17th century. 1931 Jewish population (census) was 1180. Effecting the Jewish Community were 1680 Khmelnitsky pogroms and 1919-1920 Civil War. The Jewish mass grave was dug in 1942 with last known Jewish burial was 1943. No other towns or villages' Jews were murdered in this unlandmarked mass grave. Between fields and woods, isolated hillside and crown of a hill has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with no wall, gate, or fence. No stones are visible. The site contains unmarked mass graves. Municipality owns site used for mass burial site. Properties adjacent are agricultural. Rarely, local residents visit. The mass grave was not vandalized in the last ten years with no maintenance. Within the limits of the site are no structures. Moderate threat: uncontrolled access and vandalism. Slight threat: pollution, vegetation and existing nearby development.
     Kirzhner Moisey Davidovich of 263005 Lutsk, Grushevskogo str. 18, apt. 38 [tel. (03322) 34775] visited site on 7/5/95, 7/6/95, and 7/7/95 and completed survey on 7/8/95, Interviewed was Storchik Vasiliy Nikolayevich of Shevchenko str. 14/1 [tel. (071) 61320] on 7/6/95 and 7/7/95. Documentation: Shmuel Spector. The Holocaust of Volynian Jews 1941-1945.; Yad Vashem, Jerusalem: Federation of Volinian Jews, 1990. p. 131, 358. Other documentation exists but was inaccessible.